Sandstrøm S47S13 Soundbar - Features and Set Up

Summary

Our Score

7/10

User Score

Review Price £80.00

Sandstrøm S47S13: Features

When it comes to its audio specification, the Sandstrøm S47S13’s six-speaker array is rated to deliver 60W of total audio power. This isn’t exactly an earth-shattering amount of oomph, especially as the Sandstrøm S47S13 doesn’t ship with an external subwoofer to flesh out its bass performance. But if the six drivers in the soundbar turn out to be clean and nimble enough, 60W still has the potential to sound seriously superior to anything a typical built-in TV audio system might deliver.

It’s a bit disconcerting, though, to find that the only audio adjustment available with the soundbar is a bass booster. Here’s hoping, then, that the makers of the Sandstrøm have worked hard on getting the S47S13’s audio balance right before shipping it.

The only other key features of the S47S13 are things we’ve already covered: its genuinely remarkably low £80 price and its surprising affinity with Bluetooth and NFC devices.

Sandstrøm S47S13: Set Up

For a product that seems extremely simple on the surface, the Sandstrøm S47S13 is surprisingly annoying to set up. Why? Because the connections are so deeply recessed within the hole under the clip-off panel that they’re painfully fiddly to get to, especially if you want to use the optical audio input. In fact, we could only get the optical connection to go in if we first detached the power cord.

This isn’t a long-term problem, of course, as once you’ve got your TV hooked up to the speaker, you won’t likely have to keep reattaching it. But still, it shows a level of thoughtlessness that we’re hoping won’t be reflected in other aspects of the S47S13’s performance.

Not having any video outputs on the Sandstrøm S47S13 obviously means you can’t use any onscreen menus to help you set the product up. But then as noted at the end of the previous section, Sandstrøm is of the impression that the only audio adjustment you could possibly want to make to its budget bar blaster is to switch on or off a bass booster.

The Sandstrøm S47S13 is controlled by an included 10-button remote control. However, this remote control is extremely small, making it tricky to wield comfortably in your hand and easy to lose down the back of the sofa.

It’s also a pity the remote only has a single ‘source’ button that cycles through the potential sources, rather than having a button dedicated to each individual source. The problem is that the only way to tell which input you’ve got selected is via a light which illuminates next to a written source name in the central section of the soundbar. But the text describing the sources is absolutely tiny, making reading it from any sort of distance a total impossibility.